Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

thy son while there is hope;" which text shows, first, a parent's duty; and, secondly, the time for doing it.

I. The parent's duty is to "chasten their children," as the first part of the text shows. This does not mean that they are always to beat their children-it means that when children strive to have their own way contrary to what their parents order, they must be hindered and forced to submit; and where they rebel and take their own way, they must feel that it is sure to bring painful consequences; so that they may by degrees find out that it is of no use to rebel, and that it is better to obey'. Beating may sometimes be necessary to produce this, but it must not be too often, nor too much, nor for small things; above all it must not be in anger. No beating nor any other punishment is of any use if the child is allowed to go on in his own way, or if what is punished at one time is overlooked at another. Some parents beat their children not so much to correct them, as to give a sort of payment for a certain fault-the child has his way in doing the thing forbidden, and the parent has his way in beating the child, and the matter is done with, but God has not his way acknowledged, and this is the great object of chastening. God puts parents, as it were, in his place as regards their children: in some respects the parents are to the children what our Father in Heaven is to all: and He gives parents an example how to chasten, by the motive and the way which He takes in chastening his children. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth "."

II. The second part of the text shows the time for doing the parent's duty, that is, "while there is hope." There is no hope of gathering the waters of a river after the flood-gates of the stream are opened, and the land has been overflowed-there is no hope of bending a tree which has got to its full growth; if you would bend it, you must take it while it is yet a twig. So it is with a child-there is no hope that the parent's power will keep in subjection the strong spirit of after years, when Eph. vi. 4; Col. iii. 21. 9 Heb. xii. 6; Rev. iii. 19; Prov. iii. 12; Psalm xiv. 12; cxix. 75.

7 Prov. xxii. 15; xxiii. 13, 14; xv. 10.

the early self-will of the child has been indulged or overlooked. The duty of a parent to chasten a child into submission should begin to be exercised as soon as the child begins to oppose its own will to the parent'sthat is, long before an infant can speak. The sooner the duty is begun, the less trouble will result afterwards both to parents and to children 10. See the consequences of neglecting to take the hopeful time for doing this duty shown in Prov. xxix. 15; xvii. 25; xxx. 17; I Sam. ii. 29-34; iii. 13.

THE DREGS OF THE CUP.

PROVERBS XX. 1. EPHESIANS v. 18. JOEL i. 5.

As I thought upon the deceitfulness of sin, there was presented to my mind's eye the figure of a man, and a cup was in his hand, and on that cup was written, "The cup that maketh merry." He drank thereof and smiled, and his eyes looked bright, and by and by he sang, but it was not one of the songs of Zion. I marked, too, a hand that would have stayed him as he put to his lips the cup, but he frowned at the intruder, and drank again, and wildly laughed, and I asked myself, "Is this joy?"

I looked again, and behold! it was a sight of woe! there was the same man; but oh! how changed! The smile was gone, and the song was hushed; the cup was overturned, and from it flowed dregs, and they bred worms, and stank; and from these worms came serpents having stings, and agony was marked on his brow who lately drank and laughed. He fled as He fled as they pursued, and had no rest day nor night from the torment of those stings; and I heard a voice which said, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."

Then thought I, this is the drunkard's cup; there should be written thereon, not "the cup that maketh merry," but "the cup of woe."

[blocks in formation]

Oh love of drink, what hast thou not done!

Thou art a robber! Thou robbest men of health-of

10 Prov. xxii. 6; xiii. 24; Eccles. xi. 1-6.

property-of time-of reason-of peace; yea, thou takest the last morsel from the hungering little ones to satisfy thy wretched lust.

Thou art a liar! Thou dost promise happiness, and thy fruit is misery-thou promisest ease, and behold distress.

Thou art a firebrand! stirring up anger, hatred, malice-turning the once peaceful home into a habitation of fierce discord or sullen despair.

Thou art a murderer! Many strong men have fallen, slain by thee; thou killest the body, and thy dart pierces even to the soul.

Lover of drink! each draught thou takest, after that thou hast quenched thy thirst, is waste; and often repeated, will prove poison.

Every time thou enterest the public-house, the beer shop, thou art forging one more link of the chain that will bind thee for ever in hell.

Every penny that thou spendest needlessly in drink, is laid up a witness against thee at the day of account: how wilt thou bear to look on the score which has paid for thine undoing?

"Hear ye and give ear, be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken."

"The drunkard" "shall not inherit the kingdom of God'."

The day is coming, when thy spirits will flag, thy heart wax faint, thine eyes grow dim, and the deathrattle forbid thee any more to swallow the drink which now thou cravest, and for which thou sellest thy soul. Oh! awake, and cast away thy sin, calling upon the name of the Lord. True, thou art tied and bound, but there is one who can loose thee; thou art polluted, but there is One who can cleanse thee; thou art weak, but there is One who can strengthen thee-his name is JESUS.

He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Lost one, look to Him! He will save thee. Pray to Him for grace of his Holy Spirit, and He will deliver thee! 1 See 1 Cor. vi. 10; Gal, v. 21.

the

Arise and wash away thy sins in his precious blood! Forgiveness for the past, and strength for the time to come-these are his gifts. Shun the snare, the temptation, the persons, the place; avoid them, pass not by them, turn from them, and pass away. Taste not, touch not, handle not. Then shall there be joy in the presence of God over a sinner that repenteth. Life, instead of death, shall be thy portion, and grace triumphant proclaim, "Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" From a Tract.

FROM AN ADDRESS TO THE WORKING CLASSES, &c.

By H. G.

THE events which have lately taken place in a neighbouring State, naturally set people of every class in this country a-thinking. Some of the more thoughtless, indeed, have set about doing (or rather trying to do), but the great body of the people are too wise-and thus the arm of those whose duty it is to preserve the public peace becomes too strong for such doing. Perhaps, however, some few of them intended to think afterwards. But people, in general, in this country choose to think first, before they take steps which may possibly lead to great mischief. It may be as well then to inquire, What were the evils that the people of France complained of? What are the objects which they aim at? What are the steps they are now taking? and are these steps likely to help them to gain those objects?-and this not so much with regard to them-as they, of course, have a right to do as they like in their own affairs, so long as they do not meddle with their neighbours,--as with regard to ourselves, and the institutions under which we live.

From the time when (as we read in the third chapter of Genesis, verses 17-19) God first cursed the ground on account of Adam's disobedience, and said that in the sweat of his face man should eat bread,-down to the present hour, mankind at all times, and in all countries, have complained of want, and misery, and affliction. Trouble, indeed, seems to be the lot of all; though not always in the same way. Some evils touch the body chiefly,—as pain, hunger, sickness, fatigue; other evils

injure us without always touching the body,-as earthquakes, tempests, fire, and flood; others chiefly act upon our minds, as ingratitude, lost friendship, disappointed hopes; or spring from the workings of our own bad passions, as envious feelings, covetous desires, wounded pride: but, in one shape or another, all, whether rich or poor, sickly or strong, are evidently subject to some or other of them. It is not therefore to be wondered at, that the new French government should have called want and misery the great curse of man: and, when we recollect that in France a large portion of the people never heard of the Bible, or, if they have heard of it, do not, unfortunately, believe what it says to be true; while another large portion of them are not suffered to read it, it is not perhaps so very strange that this same government should have declared that henceforth man is to be released from this curse of want and misery. But, ah! how small a portion of the evils that afflict mankind can be rooted out by a mere change of laws and institutions; or unless the evil passions of the human heart can be rooted out also!

True it is, indeed, that while some of the ills to which we are subject seem to arise from natural causes (that is, from the will of God, acting through, or by means of, natural causes-as earthquake, tempest, death of friends and relatives, &c.), and therefore are probably intended to be inseparable from our existence on earth,-yet that very many of our troubles are occasioned or increased by the wicked or mistaken acts of man-by errors, sometimes of the head, sometimes of the heart:-and these troubles, without doubt, are capable of being diminished, if not altogether removed. But how? The French say, "By new laws, new institutions :" as if evil only sprung from misgovernment! Depend upon it, my friends, that evils, even of this kind, cannot be got rid of except just in proportion as religion, that is, the principles and precepts of the Gospel (as contained in Holy Scripture), shall rule in men's hearts, and guide their thoughts and actions. It is through their influence only, that pride, and envy, and covetousness, and lust, and intemperance, and all the angry and selfish passions of the

« ForrigeFortsæt »